4 OPEC Nations Vow To Stabilize Oil Price

By YOUSSEF M. IBRAHIM, Special to the New York Times

Published: October 13, 1987

DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 12—
Eighteen months after the collapse of oil prices shook the American oil and banking industries, landed a few third world countries in default and upset the world's economy, Saudi Arabia and three other OPEC nations say they will strive to hold prices at the current level of $18 a barrel.

This determination, expressed forcefully by Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar as well as Saudi Arabia, is particularly significant amid the uneasiness in the markets stirred by the Persian Gulf war.

''The stabilization of the oil markets is essential to us and to the world economy,'' a senior Saudi official who asked not to be identified said in an interview here. ''We are determined to keep things the way they are and to urge others in OPEC to cooperate with us.'' Saudi Arabia is the largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the world's largest oil exporter. $18 Price Seen Holding The United Arab Emirates' oil minister, Sheik Mani Said al-Otaiba, observed: ''I am not very much worried about the $18 price. It will be with us this year and maybe next year as well.''

These assertions are even more significant in view of widespread rumors that Saudi Arabia had agreed last week to a secret discount of its oil prices and a new pricing system that could return producers to the price war that drove oil down to $8 a barrel in 1986.

''We have never given any discount and we won't do that,'' the senior Saudi official said. ''On the contrary, we have always suffered because we stuck to the price while others cheated.'' Saudi energy officials have been meeting here with a United States delegation led by Secretary of Energy John S. Herrington, who is on a wide-ranging tour of Middle East oil producing countries.

Saudi officials warned, however, that they would never make large sacrifices unless other oil producers shared the burden of upholding prices by also restricting production.

''We are not the sole custodian of oil stability,'' the Saudi oil minister, Hisham Nazer, said in an interview today. ''Saudi Arabia will not be pushed into a role of swing producer, cutting back its oil production alone to help the world. We cannot do it alone. Other oil producers must pitch in.''

Several OPEC officials said their conviction that stability would be thehallmark of at least the next few months was based on the bitter experiences of the past, when chaotic behavior in production led to the collapse of prices.

While overproduction beyond the self-imposed ceiling of 16.6 million barrels a day will always be a problem within OPEC, they said, it will not be allowed to go out of control.

''We don't insist on sticking exactly to the ceiling,'' Rilwanu Lukman, Nigeria's oil minister and the OPEC president, said in an interview last week after a tour of Arab oil producing countries. ''We will insist, however, on staying close to it. It doesn't matter if it is a little above or a little below, but production in any country cannot be 100 percent above allocated quota or even 50 percent above.'' OPEC Output Has Dropped

Last month OPEC production fell to 18.2 million barrels a day, substantially below the high of 20 million barrels a day in August, according to John H. Lichtblau, president of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation, in New York. At the higher level, prices fell.

''I believe oil prices will fluctuate between $18 and $20 over the next two years,'' Mr. Herrington said.

Arab oil producers appear determined to prevent prices from rising substantially above the $18 level. ''If we keep to production discipline, we may be able to get some small premiums above that level, but that's about it,'' said a senior member of the Saudi delegation that met with Mr. Herrington. ''Prices should stay in that range to insure stability.''

That stand is bound to meet with opposition inside OPEC from Iran, Algeria and Libya, which are expected to push for higher prices when OPEC meets in December. Rationale for Stability

The determination of the gulf countries is based on economic and political convictions and appears hard to shake. Among other things, the conservative oil producers led by Saudi Arabia do not think it is time to reward Iran with higher revenues while it is threatening them with armed aggression.

Iranian gunboats, missiles and sponsored terrorists have been accused of attacks against Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in the last year.

In addition, the gulf producers, led by Kuwait, think they can best lengthen the life of their oil industry by keeping prices moderate enough to attract buyers away from other forms of energy.

Saudi officials said the rumors that spread last week suggesting they have given inordinate discounts to the four American companies that make up the Aramco consortium might have originated in what one official described as ''our constant exploration for options.'' Waiting for OPEC Meeting

Saudi Arabia has no reason to upset the market now, when OPEC is due to meet in early December to renegotiate its pricing and production agreement, the Saudi official said. ''The OPEC meeting is only seven weeks or so away,'' he said. ''Why do anything now?''

Oil experts such as Mr. Lichtblau note that Iran's steeply falling oil production has already steadied prices that faltered in August. Under intensified Iraqi bombing, Iran's oil exports have fallen by as much as 800,000 barrels a day since August, to about two million barrels a day.